McConnell campaign taps FBI to investigate Mother Jones tape

4/9/13 11:55 AM EDT

Mitch McConnell's reelection campaign is working with the FBI to investigate how the liberal magazine Mother Jones obtained a recording of the Senate minority leader and his aides discussing opposition research on Ashley Judd.

“Senator McConnell’s campaign is working with the FBI and has notified the local U.S. attorney in Louisville, per FBI request, about these recordings,” McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton said in a statement. “Obviously a recording device of some kind was placed in Sen. McConnell’s campaign office without consent. By whom and how that was accomplished presumably will be the subject of a criminal investigation.”

In the recording, which Mother Jones posted this morning, McConnell's aides are heard discussing how they would have attacked Judd’s mental health if the actress had run in Kentucky's 2014 Senate race. One person in the meeting, at which McConnell was present, describes “a wealth of material” that could be used against Judd.

The audio recording was obtained by Mother Jones's David Corn, the same reporter who posted the complete tape of Mitt Romney's “47 percent” remarks.